Written by Owen Bradley, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Jack Aitken is one of the most experienced drivers of the modern era. The Brit has also made one race start in Formula One, at the Sakhir GP in 2020, and has also raced at major endurance races, most notably: Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours, Daytona 24 Hours, and the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours - plenty for a 27-year old. Aitken has now announced that he will be taking part in the Formula E Rookie Test later this April, for Envision Racing (formerly Envision Virgin Racing Team). Aitken definitely possesses plenty of talent, and appears to be a driver who has unfortunately faded from mainstream public view, ever since he made his debut at the Sakhir Grand Prix back in that chaotic 2020 season, when George Russell stepped up to replace an absent and Covid-19 infected Lewis Hamilton. Russell’s departure left a seat at Williams, and Aitken seized this opportunity. However, his focus has been majorly towards sports car racing, participating in multiple endurance events, and the GT World Challenge Europe, a category that interestingly, attracts many Motorsport legends from Formula One, and even MotoGP, like Valentino Rossi, Christian Klien and Markus Winkelhock, to name a few.
Therefore, it is safe to say that Jack Aitken is arguably one of the most experienced younger drivers out there, particularly having battled and gone wheel-to-wheel with some drivers people consider as “GOATS” - like when Jack Aitken battled the nine-time MotoGP Champion at Barcelona in the GT World Challenge Europe in 2022, or when he went up against multiple world champions Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel. Aitken is also one of the most versatile drivers too, having raced across open-wheel racing and sports cars. These are clearly very different in terms of overall driveability, and also racecraft against other drivers across both forms of racing, let alone endurance races lasting 24-Hours.
In fact, he seems to have a similar passion for all forms of motorsport, just like Fernando Alonso for example, who raced in F1, IndyCar, and Le Mans. These types of drivers should be truly celebrated and encouraged, as this was a feature of drivers during Formula One’s “Golden age”, the likes of Graham Hill - five-time Monaco Grand Prix winner, Indy 500 winner in IndyCar, and also winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, making him the only person in the world to have won the prestigious “Triple Crown” of major races. Jack Aitken seems to share the burning passion and desire to gain knowledge and experience across multiple categories of motorsport, and is worthy of praise.
Therefore, it makes sense that Aitken will be testing for Formula E, having a wealth of racing prowess and knowledge to draw from, and can bring valuable inputs to a team. The question will be, can Jack Aitken find himself with a permanent full-time race seat in Formula E? Only time will tell.
What do you think? Is Jack Aitken one of the more underappreciated drivers of the modern era? Is Aitken better off staying with Sportscars? Or should he pursue his clear passion for multiple series of motorsport?
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